Gus hopes Silver is golden

U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, today filed a bill to give federal grants to states that set up a "Silver Alert" system, akin to the Amber Alert for missing kids, for finding missing senior citizens.

The bill was prompted largely by the death of Mary Zelter, 86, of Largo, who signed out of her assisted-living facility on Feb. 25 and whose body was found a week later, floating in the Intracoastal Waterway about 10 miles away.

He doesn't have any cosponsors yet, but he'll be shopping it around to Florida's members of the U.S. House and Senate soon. The bill calls for spending $5.6-million a year on grants to states.

"A lot of states, like Florida, are having a bunch of problems, and we don’t want any excuses for not implementing the program," he said after introducing the bill Thursday afternoon.

Comments

[DavidFL10]

Where in the constitution does it say that the power to help find missing old people is a job of the federal government?

How can a congressman want to borrow another 5.6 million dollars from China to give to the states so the feds can control what this "Silver Alert" system will consist of? How can this possibly be a better solution than letting each state compete to see what works and then letting the governors compare notes.
Are there any constitutionalists left in either party?

He is a complete joke and can not be taken seriously. He will (and deserves to) be defeated for reelection.

Excuse me. If we have Amber Alert system, how cheap and simple is it to use same system to find granny?

Run a good candidate against him. Help them tell folks this idiot is NOT his daddy. Better candidates equals better representation.

Silva awert?

what kind of upbringing did you people have? The Times developed this blog with hatred in mind. Shame on them. The times has a right to delete comments that violate their policy. How about your policy of decency? IF you don't like a candidate for his politics,that's one thing, but this kind of crap is unacceptable. except to the St. Pete Times.
To the Times:
Do you remember what Vince Foster said before he took his own life? let me remind you.
"Ruining peoples lives is a sport".
How true. This isn't about politics or political views. Read your own rag. It is hatred and ugliness, through and through.
I hope the editor of this blog and the other vicious blogs put on to intentionally humiliate and embarrass people gets his laughs, then i hope he never sleeps peacefully again.
I am a democrat, and I have never yet heard Mr. Bilirakis say he was "his daddy".
You people are sickening. You do this on other blogs.
Remember, Times, Gus Bilirakis is a human being, with human emotions, he has a wife and children who read this trash and this is just mean. Plain mean.
May you all regret someday what you have bred when you developed these hateful communications. Does anyone notice that the only insults go to Republicans? Why is that? Because they are not humans and deserve to be insulted and degraded by the Times supporters. Shame on this paper. It used to be a reputable information source.

"Granny and missing old people" - I guess the posters never had parents or plan never to become elderly. I hope you get lost some day.
Congratulations Gus, It's nice to know someone cares about the elderly. They were here first.

9:44 and 10:00 sound so much like that lovable Susan Smith of the Northwest Democratic Executive Committee. She is just hateful and ugly enough to have submitted those samples of utter stupidity. Ignore her, Gus, she wants you to scrape the bottom of the barrel she is in.

10:34 pm:
Do you feel good about yourself making fun of a person who has a hearing impairment. I guess God made you better than people with disabilities because you have no trouble insulting them.
Your an idiot.

Why is it that caring about our elderly is a partisan issue? Our family could have used this when our grandmother was still alive and had alzheimer's. She wandered out of the house in the middle of the night one time and we searched for her for hours only for our neighbor to find her wandering in the swamplands behind their property. We then installed granny proof locks on all the doors of the house but in the interim while we were learning how to care for her this would have helped ease our minds tremendously. This is an idea that is long overdue and I say kudo's to Rep. Bilirakis for being a compassionate man who cares about our children and our parents!

[Larry the Cable Guy!]

Stop making fun of the waterhead! It's not his fault he's a product on inbreading.

[rjm]

"Stop making fun of the waterhead! It's not his fault he's a product on inbreading.".....well, obviously your intelligence outshines us all. English - Learn it. Then make fun of the intelligence of others.

rjm = D-D-Deeeee!

I thing Gus is hot!

[John Donson]

Read the bill. I'm certain there is a clause in there that all elderly people who are found alive would be required to visit a chiropractor to make sure they're o.k.
By the way, why is it that parents who let kids run around unsupervised get punished, but people who allow the incapacitated elderly to go around unsupervised go unpunished?

Why is it we drive on a parkway but park on a driveway?

JOhn Donson:
There is a law. If a senior who has been diagnosed with Alzheimers or any other dementia is left alone by a caregiver and becomes lost or hurt, said caregiver can be charged with endangerment or neglect.

careful 9:24 - don't confuse donson with the facts

[jim]

Congressman Bilirakis is missing the forest for the trees. He appears to not deal with the major problems facing our nation, but rather finds fringe areas that are good vote getters. He needs to abandon being a politician and embrace being a statesman. We need to remove corporate control from Washington, teach people to take some responsibility for themselves and their families, control fradulent lending practices, control all government spending. And with that said, he is focused on spending more tax payer dollars to establish another government agency, because of one obscure incident. Congressman, forget about what gets votes and start thinking about all the citizens you represent, and the good of the country your are priviliged to serve. At a time when we have such major issues the last thing we need is another unnecessary expense.

[CW]

Jim, you’re missing the point Gus is trying to make here. You see, the more lost children we can find, the more we can send to Iraq to fight an un-winnable war and boost Halliburton profits!

So you see… it’s a good thing.

You morons are pathetic

Susan Smith:
You're still a pig. get a life or a face lift or better yet, a tummy tuck and face life. Then a little highlights in the hay you call hair.

12:01:
Your obviously referring to Young having Haliburton stock. Well, you are an idiot. Adair checked that out, he has no stocks except his 401 K. You're a liar and the worse part is your an adult. Or supposed to be.

4:10... aka: Young boy... Get back to work. Our taxes bought your damn job, the least you could do is work it.

4:36:
why is it whenever you don't like what is said, you blame the young boys. what is the matter with you. do you have a thing for boys? You can't blame them for your problems or anyone elses. Do you have children of your own? I bet you ignored and abused them. You are a very angry person and you didn't buy their jobs. One of his kids has a masters, working on a doctoral, the other has a bachelors and the one at SAIC went in at entry level and is attending school.How do I know? Because I work next to him at SAIC. Leave the kid alone. Entry level - did you hear me. You are attempting to hurt Youngs kids because you don't like Young. That is wrong. Do you know what entry level means. The other one with the Bachelors started at entry level also. He could have demanded more. How do I know - because I work next to the one at SAIC. By the way, he's a smart kid, a lot smarter than you. I bet you don't even pay taxes. You are probably on state aid.

ONE MORE THING. OUR COMPUTERS ARE LOCKED OUT FOR PERSONAL USE. CAN'T BE THE YOUNG BOYS, LOSER.